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Life of the Party
Juniper meets Fenn's group—a perfectly normal band of looters. Synopsis Juniper makes further small talk with Fenn as they make their way to the rest of her group—Fenn insists that she'll do the talking. The group looks like a classic adventuring party, in line with Amaryllis' earlier description of a hypothetical team sent to retrieve the teleportation key. The group consists of a large man—the group's tank—in full plate armor with a massive shield and a large pistol, a katana-wielding anthropomorphic porcupine in robes, a bone mage wearing form-fitting red robes and bandoliers of bones, and a nearly-naked, bald, tattoo-covered skin mage. They're looters—at least, according to Fenn's painfully-obvious cover story. Fenn explains the situation with Juniper's missing friend. When the porcupine, dubbed "Quills" by Fenn, asks Juniper to describe the friend, he attempts to deceive the group by giving Poul's description—raising his skill in to level 6 in the process. Fenn easily calls him on the lie. The bone mage describes Amaryllis—the group's target, apparently—and Quills tries to get more information from Juniper, but the tattoo mage announces that they need to move. Fenn leads the way to a burnt out shop, and the questioning continues. Quills surmises that Juniper met Amaryllis on the ground, and in return Juniper tells him about her fake name "Cypress" and the presence of the Fuchsia Coterie. Further discussion reveals that the group has two objectives—Amaryllis being the second one, with the first being the teleportation key—which are interrelated, as Amaryllis is herself after the key. Juniper tells the group that she was going to Sorian's castle and reveals that he knows about the teleportation key. The group decide to take Juniper along and protect him in exchange for Juniper's help and information. As a precaution, Leonold (the tattoo mage) transfers a tattoo called the Fool's Choker to Juniper's neck—one that may be activated to kill him with a thought. The group also takes away Juniper's void tunneler. Juniper unlocks from having the tattoo on him, as well as the achievement and the new quest —the description of which informs him that Leonold intends to kill him. Fenn takes responsibility over Juniper and informs the group about the dangers of Sorian's Castle. The tattoo mage, Tova, is angry at the complications they're facing, but Quills brushes her off. The armored man and Leonold ask Quills if the evacuation they were promised will come, if they radio for it, and Quills admits that they're probably on their own. Fenn grins at Juniper. The group sets off. Featured characters *Juniper Smith *Fenn Greenglass *Brownsnout Quills-in-Hand *Inge Carter *Tova Feidlimid *Leonold Pavran *Amaryllis Penndraig Quotes “I found a friend! I was just telling him how we’re all looters.” :—'Fenn' gives her group their cover story. “This mission is getting increasingly fucked.” :—'Tova' learns that the Color Riot is involved. “If I activate it, which takes but a thought, it will cut about half an inch into your flesh. You are familiar with the location of your carotid artery?” “Purely as a precaution. When we leave, it will fade from you.” :—'Leonold' and Quills ensure Juniper's good behavior with the Fool's Choker. “Alright. I will ask the question I believe is on all our minds. The intent was that we would procure the teleportation key and use it to leave. In the event of abject mission failure, we were meant to radio for evacuation. Were you to declare this mission a failure, do you currently believe that evacuation would be forthcoming?” :—'Carter' speaks up. “To Sorian’s Castle! May we succeed on our merits or die in ignominy.” “There would be no ignominy. This mission would be buried under so many layers of classification that our names would never see the light of day.” :—'Fenn' and Quills, as different as night and day. Notes Continuity notes *Juniper tries to tell Fenn that a "relative" told him about the Risen Lands' fallen graduation rates. He really got the information back in chapter 5, from Sly—who'd been informed of the situation by his uncle. *Fireteam Blackheart matches the speculative description given by Amaryllis back in chapter 9. Category:Worth the Candle chapters